Related Links

The Augusta Republican was convicted in 2005 and sentenced to a 10-year term along with Augusta pharmacist Duncan Fordham of a scheme to bilk East Central Georgia Community Mental Health Center with a contract obtained by bribing its director, according to court documents.

Williams and Fordham based their appeals on a Supreme Court decision in the case of former Enron Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Skilling. Like Skilling, Williams and Fordham were formally charged with violating a law that included the theft of “honest services.” Skilling successfully argued that the honest-services-fraud law was unconstitutionally too vague.

Williams and Fordham, however, did not convince the Court of Appeals that they should benefit from the same reasoning as Skilling because the three-judge appeals panel concluded the jury convicted the pair for bribery, which was clearly illegal.

Judge Beverly Martin, writing for the appeals court, says Williams and Fordham complained about mentions of honest services but did not prove the jury was prejudiced.

“The Skilling decision did nothing to remove bribery as a method for committing honest-services fraud,” she wrote. “The sporadic references to ‘honest services’ and the single jury instruction on the now invalid theory of honest services are not sufficient to show that Mr. Fordham and Mr. Williams were prejudiced in light of the evidence of their participation in an actual bribery scheme.”

ADVISORY: Users are solely responsible for opinions they post here and for
following agreed-upon rules of civility. Posts and
comments do not reflect the views of this site. Posts and comments are
automatically checked for inappropriate language, but readers might find some
comments offensive or inaccurate. If you believe a comment violates our rules,
click the "Flag as offensive" link below the comment.

Yeah, I didn't know him, but I know his type. Let us remember that he has been in federal prison for seven or eight years. Surely he has been rehabilitated by now, with all that time to think about it. His prison buddy Charles Walker is, I'm sure, leading the prison band and also preaching to the choir.

Someone needs to write a book about Williams. A high school dropout from Harlem, working as a mall security guard, who became a power in local and state politics. Then he totally controls the people at the mental health center in a way that's hard to believe as he pocketed millions. He used to dress so well, Armani suits, silk handkerchief in his pocket and driving a top of the line Mercedes. He was/is something.

This is from the Chronicle about the others involved in the crimes with Williams.

"Brockman died of cancer before his six-year prison sentence began. M. Chad Long, 40, a lobbyist and grandson of state political heavyweight former House Speaker Tom Murphy, was released from federal custody in January 2008. Former Atlanta Braves pitcher and state lobbyist Rick L. Camp, 59, was released in March of 2008. And Augusta pharmacist Duncan Fordham, 57, was released in February 2009."

Maybe you knew a different Robin Williams, perhaps the one from Hollywood. For a while I was close to Robin and even considered him a real friend until he went over to the dark side.

If those were Armani suits he was wearing, then his tailor should have gone to jail with him. Often loose fitting and sometimes tight in the wrong places. He looked at times like an underpaid goodfella.

As to his car, I never once saw him drive a Mercedes. I'm not saying he never drove one just that I never saw it happen. I did ride once in the back seat of a Mercedes with Robin and Paul Coverdell who was running to replace Wyche Fowler in the Senate at the time. That was long before Robin's fall from grace.

Robin started off his political career as pretty much a straight arrow, but like a lot of politicians, just couldn't resist all that low hanging fruit under his nose. Too bad too, because he had the talent and networking skills to have been a real force for good.

... is doing light housekeeping, and cooking and cleaning for Robin and Charles Walker while in prison?

OK, a little misogynistic and a bad joke but I couldn't resist giving our liberal, progressive friends something to attack a conservative on. Something they wouldn't have to make up out of thin air the way they normally do.

Anyway, Linda was at least as dirty as Walker and Williams. She deserves a hit or two for what she did to Georgia's kids.

The thing about Schrenko is she will come out of prison with lots of money. She will get a huge retirement from the state because her top years were so high.

Darby, I didn't pay attention to how his clothes fit, but I do recall his fancy suits and car. Oh, he also said one car burned up and collected insurance if you recall. I also remember his place at the beach where all the Hooters girls stayed and the legislators visited.

I do recall his fancy suits and car. Oh, he also said one car burned up and collected insurance if you recall. I also remember his place at the beach where all the Hooters girls stayed and the legislators visited."

Riverman1, please don't even try to put me into the position of trying to defend Robin. I'm never going to even go near that idea. But in the interest of accuracy......

Robin and his Dad, were accused of burning that car before he was elected. The GBI investigated and found no proof and no cause to take further action. (I read the report.) Knowing what I know now, I can accept that they might very well have done it for the insurance money.

As for the thing at the beach, it wasn't Robin's place, it belonged to a lobbyist and Robin was dumb enough to go there. Then he was smart enough to see what was going on and immediately called his wife Deanna to join him there before the shindig ended. In doing so, he provided himself with a moderate degree of political cover.

Like I said, I'm not gonna defend him. He got exactly what he deserved. Just don't want to perpetuate any unrelated inaccuracies.

Darby, you apparently do know Williams' history better than I do. About his wife, that's the first wife he married while in the Air Force, right? Interesting couple. When he ran for mayor he made it a point to emphasize her. Something sticks in my mind about him paying the rent at a Hilton Head condo for a woman. Does that ring a bell? I'm not trying to slam him unnecessarily. I'm just curious. He is a character who has done his time (almost). I fully expect we will hear big things from him after he gets out. He's too talented to remain down. Hopefully, jail calmed down the bad tendencies.

In reading the comments above, someone mentioned that Williams is a high school drop out but then another states he served in the Air Force. You can't have it both ways! Our military requires a high school diploma or GED.